It has been reported that the recent crackdown on, amongst others, street traders in the inner city of Joburg is part of the implementation of the City of Johannesburg’s ‘Clean Sweep’ operation, announced by Mayor Parks Tau earlier in the month (The Star, 24 October 2013). The problem is that only one aspect of the ‘Clean Sweep’ initiative – law enforcement – is being implemented, creating the very real possibility that the current exercise will not be sustainable and will eventually fail.
The ‘Clean Sweep’ document of late 2012 lists a number of challenges facing the city, including:
· Cleanliness levels – illegal dumping, littering and incorrect disposal of waste at incorrect locations (i.e. under bridges etc.)
· Traffic congestion and traffic violations (parking on pavements, double parking etc)
· Illegal trading also adding to congestion on the roads and pavements
· Illegal connections (water and electricity)
· Informal settlements
· Invasion and hijacking of buildings
· Unauthorised businesses (spazas, shebeens, salons, car repair yards etc, especially in designated residential areas)
· Homeless people
· Migration and influx management
· Anti-social behaviour such as excessive noise, urinating in the street etc
· Degradation of properties
· Abandoned buildings and neglected empty plots
· Overcrowding
· Poor management of City properties and the general environment
· Unacceptable levels of crime in some areas
Most people would agree that these challenges are real and pressing – the question is how to address them?
The document goes on to say:
‘As we move towards Joburg 2040, creative and innovative ways of addressing these challenges are required. It is clear that many of the old ways of doing things have not worked and this has led to the gradual decline of the Inner City. This is why there is a need for a ‘new broom’ for a ‘clean sweep’- a new approach which will enable us to make meaningful strides towards a resilient, sustainable and liveable city.”
Then, in a section headed ‘Preparing for a new strategic path’, the document proposes the following:
It is therefore hereby proposed that all relevant role players (Region F, CoJ Departments and relevant MOEs, as well as stakeholders in civil society) engage in workshops wherein a productive exchange of information and ideas will take place with the aim of addressing the above-stated challenges (my underlining).
Later on in the document, it is said that ‘the lack of economic opportunity, the extent of poverty and unemployment, the overcrowding and the chronic shortage of housing – these are directly linked to the current urban decay and the climate of lawlessness in the Inner City’.
What workshops in pursuance of the objectives set out above have taken place since the drafting of this document at the end of 2012? What efforts have been made to come up with ‘creative and innovative ways of addressing these challenges’? Where are the attempts to find alternatives to the ‘old way of doing things’? How does chasing people who are earning a living off the streets address ‘the extent of poverty and unemployment’, how does it create ‘economic opportunity’?
In 2009, the City of Johannesburg decided to ‘deal with’ the street trading ‘problem’ in Yeoville Bellevue by bringing in the JMPD for the month of October and chasing all the street traders off the streets. Although the JMPD were warned that this strategy would fail unless they were prepared to have officials on the streets beyond the end of the month of October, they went ahead. At the end of October, the JMPD left and the street traders returned en masse.
In 2010, an opportunity arose to negotiate a new solution in Yeoville Bellevue involving all stakeholders – the CoJ, market traders, street traders, formal business, property owners and community organisations. The CoJ unilaterally terminated the process before it had properly begun. An opportunity to find a ‘creative and innovative’ way of dealing with the socio-economic challenges embodied in the phenomenon of street trading was lost.
Today, the streets of Yeoville Bellevue are still filled with unmanaged street traders, who are ‘illegal’ in terms of the misguided ban on street trading in the neighbourhood. Are they the next to be chased off the streets in terms of the ‘Mayoral Clean Sweep’ operation?
I believe (and a proposal of mine along these lines called the Three-legged Pot Approach is included in the ‘Clean Sweep’ document) that the answer lies in
· urgent, intensive and ongoing communication between the CoJ and all stakeholders (and not just street traders – they are only one of the many stakeholders)
· an understanding of the socio-economic realities driving and growing street trading and the seeking of a sustainable solution which will allow street trading and other forms of informal trading in a managed way such that the anti-social aspects can be reduced, if not eliminated, and the positive economic benefits enhanced, and
· law enforcement which must happen alongside these two important processes, not in place of them.
Well-managed street trading could be a fantastic asset to the city, creating jobs, livening up the streets, attracting domestic and international tourists. This is a reality in other countries. Why can it not be here?
The only way to resolve this and other issues bedevilling the inner city of Johannesburg is for the CoJ to remain true to its own resolve – to ‘engage in workshops’ with all stakeholders ‘with the aim of addressing the ….. challenges’. Such an approach is consistent with the CoJ’s own Growth and Development Strategy (GDS 2040) which states:
‘Sustained, regular and non-partisan participation in city development – by all types of city stakeholders – is important for building resilient governance, both within city governments, and within the regions that city boundaries frame. Participation builds trust, while deliberation contributes to the shared sense of understanding needed to mobilise and aid self-organisation across ward boundaries. Participation encourages the identification and sharing of diverse views, issues and interests, while deliberation allows for the exploration of different solutions, perceptions and explanations – without forcing consensus. Johannesburg’s current systems of participation are insufficiently participative or deliberative. There is a need to make this form participatory governance work more effectively, across all regions in the City, to build long-term sustainability and governance.’
The CoJ has, in its haste to implement only the law enforcement aspects of the ‘Clean Sweep’ document, missed an opportunity to put its own commitments to developing new ideas and effective participation into practise and, in so doing, has sabotaged its own objectives of building trust and understanding. You can see why they did it. Participation is hard work. Coming up with creative alternatives is difficult. Crackdowns and blitzes are easier. But that’s not the way to achieve the sustainability the CoJ calls for in the GDS 2040 document.
Meanwhile, entrepreneurial people are being denied the right and opportunity to make a living.
Maurice Smithers
Yeoville Bellevue Community Development Trust
ybcdt@yeoville.org.za
0823737705
Joburg Trade Resources 